Wednesday, August 9, 2017
Judges 3:11 So the land had rest for forty years. Then Othniel the son of Kenaz died.
GOD IS FAITHFUL AND JUST TO FORGIVE US OUR SINS
We're not told anymore of Othniel's mighty deeds beyond, "So the land had rest for forty years. Then Othniel the son of Kenaz died." God sent a deliverer to save His people from their enemies and He gave them rest through the deliverer. But that deliverer eventually died.
Our text demonstrates that true salvation cannot be found in someone who simply delivers us from some wicked, worldly trouble. When Othniel died, his earthly service came to an end. Earthly deliverers can only help us so long as they're alive to help, and, as we know, everyone eventually dies, no matter how strong or just.
But when the Deliverer from sin, our Savior, Jesus, came and fulfilled God's Promise to His people, indeed, to all people, Christ died but He did not die never to deliver again. He rose bodily from the dead. His deliverance did not pass away when He died. Rather, that deliverance was accomplished by His death and was confirmed for eternity with His resurrection from the dead. We do not have peace only for forty years or only a hundred years, or even only for a thousand years. Through Christ Jesus, the Deliverer, we have everlasting peace with God, protection from our enemies, our true enemies, sin, death, and the devil, for eternity!
Along the way we fall into sin, and God uses His Law to call us to repentance, sometimes allowing problems to come into our lives to help curb our sin, and to help strengthen our faith by increasing our reliance on Him. But we know that while sin may be a constant companion in this world, our living Savior is our everlasting Companion, constantly here with us in Word and in Sacrament to assure us of the forgiveness of our sins.
And, along the way, God does provide us with earthly deliverance from trouble and pain and suffering, promising that "...all things work together for good to those who love God, who are the called according to His purpose" (Romans 8:28). But, God's deliverance from earthly troubles may not always take the form of Othniel bringing evil-doers to justice. Because God's ultimate purpose is not deliverance from earthly troubles, but deliverance from eternal trouble, that deliverance may come by His calling us out of this world into eternal life in heaven.
Whatever happens to the believer in this world, God has saved us from ourselves by calling us out of darkness. He has delivered us from eternal trouble by washing away our sin and conquering death. The judges were not simply interpreters of the law, or rulers. They were deliverers. And so also Christ Jesus is not simply our Judge. He is our Deliverer, our Savior from sin so that we are judged by God "Not Guilty!" and in Christ Jesus are judged to be inheritors of eternal life with Him.
"There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:1).
